This invention relates to a thermal expansion valve used in a refrigeration cycle.
Generally, of the components forming the refrigeration cycle in an air conditioner for vehicles, the evaporator is placed inside the passenger room, and others such as the compressor and the like are placed inside the engine room. The refrigeration cycle is provided with a thermal expansion valve for controlling the amount of refrigerant entering the evaporator.
FIG. 26 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the state where a box-type expansion valve conventionally used as an expansion valve is placed in the refrigeration cycle of the air conditioner used for a vehicle, and FIG. 27 is a schematic perspective view of the same. In FIG. 26, an expansion valve 10 is formed of a prismatic valve body 30 made from aluminum and the like, a first passage 32 through which refrigerant travels from a condenser 5 via a receiver 6 to an evaporator 8 in a refrigeration cycle 11, and a second passage 34 through which refrigerant travels from the evaporator 8 to a compressor 4, both passages being formed on the valve body 30 and placed vertically apart from each other. Also, the expansion valve 10 includes an orifice 32a and a valve chamber 35 provided to the first passage 32, a spherical valve means 32b provided to the upstream side of the passage 32 for controlling the amount of refrigerant traveling through the orifice 32a, and an adjust screw 39 for a spring 32d providing pressure to the valve means 32b in the direction toward the orifice 32a through a valve member 32c. The adjust screw 39 having a screw portion 39f is screwed retrievably to a mount hole 30a connecting to the valve chamber 35 of the first passage 32 from the lower end surface of the valve body 30, and an O-ring 39g is mounted to the adjust screw 39 so as to secure airtightness of the valve body 30. The opening of the valve means 32d to the orifice 32a is adjusted by the adjust screw 39 and the pressure spring 32d. 
Reference number 321 is an entrance port where refrigerant exiting the receiver 6 and traveling toward the evaporator 8 enters. The entrance port 321 is connected to the valve chamber 35, and reference number 322 is an exit port of the refrigerant flowing into the evaporator 8. Also, reference number 50 of FIG. 27 shows bolt holes for mounting the expansion valve, and the lower portion of the valve body 30 is thinned. A small-diameter aperture 37 for opening and closing the orifice 32a by providing driving force to the valve means 32b corresponding to the exit temperature of the evaporator 8, and an aperture 38 having a larger diameter than the aperture 37 are provided to the valve body 30 coaxial to the orifice 32a. A screw hole 361 for fixing the power element portion 36 as a heat sensing portion is provided to the upper end of the valve body 30.
The power element portion 36 constitutes a diaphragm 36a made of stainless steel and the like, and an upper pressure working chamber 36b and a lower pressure working chamber 36c formed coherent to each other by welding while interposing the diaphragm 36a, forming two airtight heat sensing chambers above and below the diaphragm 36a. The power element portion 36 is equipped with an upper lid 36d and a lower lid 36h made of stainless steel and the like, and a plug body 36k for enclosing predetermined refrigerant acting as a diaphragm driving fluid to the upper pressure working chamber 36b, and the lower lid 36h is screwed into a screw hole 361 through a packing 40. The lower pressure working chamber 36c is connected to the second passage 34 through an equalizing hole 36e formed concentric with the center line of the orifice 32a. Refrigerant from the evaporator 8 travels through the second passage 34, and the passage 34 becomes the passage for vapor refrigerant, and the pressure of the refrigerant is loaded to the lower pressure working chamber 36c through the pressure equalizing hole 36e. Reference number 342 is an entrance port where refrigerant exiting the evaporator 8 enters, and 341 is an exit port where refrigerant discharged to the compressor 4 exits.
Also, a peak portion 312 formed in a large-diameter saucer which comes into contact with the central portion of the lower surface of the diaphragm 36a is provided inside the lower pressure working chamber 36c. The power element portion 36 is further comprised of a heat sensing shaft 36f made of aluminum which pierces through the second passage 34 and is arranged slidably inside the large-diameter aperture 38 to transmit the temperature at the refrigerant exit of the evaporator 8 to the lower pressure working chamber 36c and which provides driving force by sliding inside the large-diameter aperture 38 corresponding to the displacement of the diaphragm 36a based on the difference in pressure between the upper pressure working chamber 36b and the lower pressure working chamber 36c, and a working shaft 37f made of stainless steel and having a smaller diameter than the heat sensing shaft 36f which is arranged slidably inside the small-diameter aperture 37 to provide pressure to the valve means 32b resisting to the elastic force of the spring means 32d corresponding to the displacement of the heat sensing shaft 36f. The upper end portion of the heat sensing shaft 36f is composed from a peak portion 312 as a receiving portion of the diaphragm 36a and a large-diameter portion 314 sliding inside the lower pressure working chamber 36c, and the lower end portion of the heat sensing shaft 36f comes into contact with the upper end portion of the working shaft 37f, the lower end portion of the working shaft 37f comes into contact with the valve means 32b, so that the heat sensing shaft 36f and the working shaft 37f constitute altogether the valve means driving shaft 318. The peak portion 312 and the large-diameter portion 314 may be formed as one member.
That is, the valve means driving shaft 318 extending from the lower surface of the diaphragm 36a to the orifice 32a of the first passage 32 is concentrically arranged in the equalizing hole 36e. The portion 37e of the working shaft 37f having in a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the orifice 32a pierces through the orifice 32a, and the refrigerant passes inside the orifice 32a. Also, an O-ring 36g is provided to the heat sensing shaft 36f in order to secure airtightness of the first passage 32 and the second passage 34.
A known diaphragm driving fluid is filled inside the upper pressure working chamber 36b of the pressure working housing 36d, and the heat of the refrigerant at the refrigerant exit of the evaporator 8 traveling inside the second passage 34 is transmitted to the diaphragm driving fluid through the diaphragm 36a and the valve means driving shaft 318 exposed to the second passage 34 or the equalizing hole 36e connected to the second passage 34.
The diaphragm driving liquid inside the upper pressure working chamber 36b turns into gas corresponding to the above-mentioned transmitted heat, and loads pressure to the upper surface of the diaphragm 36a. The diaphragm 36a is displaced vertically by the difference in the above-mentioned pressure of the diaphragm driving gas loaded to the upper surface and the pressure loaded to the lower side of the diaphragm 36a. 
The vertical displacement of the central portion of the diaphragm 36a is transmitted to the valve means 32b through the valve means driving shaft, and moves the valve means 32b closer to or away from the valve seat of the orifice 32a. As a result, the flow rate of the refrigerant is controlled.
Namely, the temperature of the low-pressure vapor refrigerant at the exit side of the evaporator 8, that is, refrigerant exiting the evaporator, is transmitted to the upper pressure working chamber 36b, so that the pressure within the upper pressure working chamber 36b changes corresponding to the transmitted temperature, and the exit temperature of the evaporator 8 rises. When the heat load of the evaporator increases, the pressure within the upper pressure working chamber 86b increases, and the heat sensing shaft 36f, that is the valve means driving shaft, is driven downward moving the valve body 32b downwards, so that the opening of the orifice 32a increases. With such movement, the supply of refrigerant to the evaporator 8 increases, and lowers the temperature of the evaporator 8. On the contrary, when the temperature of the refrigerant exiting the evaporator 8 drops, that is, when the heat load of the evaporator decreases, the valve means 32b is driven in the opposite direction, decreasing the opening of the orifice 32a, decreasing the supply of the refrigerant to the evaporator, so that the temperature of the evaporator 8 rises.
In such conventional thermal expansion valve, the heat sensing shaft 36f is a member having relatively large diameter, and such member and the working shaft constitute the valve means driving shaft. However, there is a conventional thermal expansion valve constituting the above-mentioned valve means driving shaft with a rod member, and such conventional thermal expansion valve 10xe2x80x2 using the rod member is shown in FIG. 28. The operation of the expansion valve shown in FIG. 28 is the same as the expansion valve shown in FIG. 26 or 27, and the same reference numbers with FIG. 26 or 27 indicate the same or equal portions.
A heat sensing portion 318 having a heat sensing mechanism operates as the heat sensing shaft 361f, comprising a large-diameter stopper 312 to the surface of which the diaphragm 36a contacts and acts as a receiving portion of the diaphragm 36a, a large-diameter portion 314 having one end surface adjoining the rear surface of the stopper 312 and having the central portion of the other end constituted as a projection 315 which is inserted slidably inside the lower pressure working chamber 36c, and a rodmember 316 of continuous integral composition with one end surface of which embedded to the interior of the projection 315 of the large-diameter portion 314 and the other end connected to the valve means 32b through a portion 371 corresponding to the working shaft. The heat sensing shaft 361f constituting the rod member 316 is exposed inside the second passage and the heat from the refrigerant vapor is transmitted thereto.
The rod member 361 which is a heat sensing shaft 361f is driven to move back and forth across the passage 34 corresponding to the displacement of the diaphragm 36a of the power element portion 36, so that a clearance connecting the passage 32 and the passage 34 is formed along the rod portion 316. In order to prevent formation of such clearance, an O-ring 42 fitted tightly to the outer circumference of the rod portion 316 is placed inside the large-diameter aperture 38xe2x80x2 so that the O-ring exists between the passages. Moreover, in order to prevent the O-ring 42 from moving by the force operating in the longitudinal direction (the direction towards the power element portion 36) provided by the coil spring 32d and the refrigerant pressure of the passage 321, a push nut 41 as a self-locking nut is mounted to the rod portion 316, positioned inside the large-diameter aperture 38xe2x80x2 and contacting the O-ring 42.
Such positioning and supporting structure of the conventional thermal expansion valve has been variously proposed. That is, a composition where an opening is provided on the division separating the engine room and the passenger room, and placing the thermal expansion valve to the passenger room side of the opening, connecting the refrigerant piping providing the refrigerant to the evaporator to the thermal expansion valve through a block-like connector, and supporting the above-mentioned connector through a packing material to the above-mentioned opening (for example, gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-Open 223427/95 and Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open 37729/95) has been proposed.
Also, a structure where the thermal expansion valve itself is supported to the opening through the packing material (for example, refer to the gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-Open 215047/95) has been proposed.
However, in such a supporting structure of the thermal expansion valve mentioned above, it is uneconomical in view of component cost and assembly cost to use the connector and the packing. Also, in the case where the thermal expansion valve is supported directly through the packing material, there is a problem that a clearance may be formed between the inner wall of said opening and the thermal expansion valve resulting in insufficient sealing. Moreover, in a conventional thermal expansion valve, the shape for supporting the thermal expansion valve of the air conditioner of an automobile to the opening of said division has never been considered. That is, the upper lid constituting the power element portion of the thermal expansion valve is formed as a dome provided with a cork body projecting from the wall portion of the upper lid so that ability to fit tightly with said inner wall of the opening becomes a problem, and the outer shape of the power element portion has not been considered.
Therefore, the present invention aims at providing a thermal expansion valve that could be tightly fixed to the opening provided to the division dividing the engine room and the passenger room, providing a secure seal.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the thermal expansion valve of the present invention is comprised of a valve body, a power element portion provided to the upper end portion of said valve body which drives a valve means according to the displacement of a diaphragm, and an adjust screw provided to the lower end portion of said valve body which adjusts the pressurizing force of a spring controlling the valve opening of said valve means, wherein said power element portion is provided with a cover embracing the same, and the lower portion of said valve body is formed as a tapered surface.
Also, the thermal expansion valve of the present invention is comprised of a valve body equipped with a first passage through which refrigerant entering an evaporator travels and a second passage through which refrigerant exiting from said evaporator travels, the opening of a valve being controlled both by a valve means arranged opposing an orifice formed partway of said first passage and being biased toward the valve closing direction with a spring, and by a power element operated by sensing the temperature of said refrigerant traveling through said second passage and forcing said valve means toward the valve opening direction through a rod, wherein said power element is provided with a cover embracing the same, and the lower portion of said valve body provided with said spring is formed as a tapered surface.
Moreover, as a preferable embodiment of the thermal expansion valve of the present invention, the cover includes an interior formed with a concave portion and an exterior formed with curvature surfaces and tapered surfaces continuing therefrom, said concave portion storing the power element therein, and said tapered surfaces being substantially continued from the tapered surfaces of said valve body.
Further, as an embodiment of the thermal expansion valve of the present invention, the tapered surfaces of said valve body are formed from substantially the middle of the total height of said valve body.
Also, as an embodiment of the thermal expansion valve of the present invention, the valve body is formed to have an outer shape comprising mutually parallel surfaces starting from the upper surface provided with said power element portion and extended to approximately the middle of the total height of said valve body, and tapered surfaces continued therefrom which is tapered toward a bottom surface provided with an adjust screw.
According to the present invention being formed as explained above, the valve body is formed with parallel surfaces and tapered surfaces, enabling the valve body to fit tightly to the above-mentioned division wall, and improving the fixing capability.
Moreover, it could change the outer shape of the power element portion with the cover provided to the power element portion, and the fitting with the opening of the above-mentioned division wall is improved, and also the sealing ability is improved.